July 24 is Mormon Pioneer Day, commemorating the entrance of Brigham Young & his followers to Utah and the subsequent settling of the LDS church in Salt Lake City. We have been in Salt Lake City during their celebration and it is a MAJOR production! The San Luis Valley has a large Mormon population and this day is celebrated here as well with parades, rodeo, carnival, demolition derby & fireworks. We have lived here 21 years and this is the first year that we've decided to drive the 26 miles to see how Manassa celebrates Pioneer Day.
Bill stayed home to man the yard sale while Jamie & I drove down for the morning parade. The parade route was the entire stretch of Main Street through town...probably a couple of miles and there had to be thousands of people lined up along the street. The parade was fun! They put a LOT of work into building floats...something that is unheard of for an Alamosa parade. Seriously, a parade in Alamosa consists of: a few horses, local cub scout troops walking by, firetrucks and cars with all sorts of political advertising. Not even a marching band! The Manassa parade did not have a marching band either and they had a few political advertisements thrown in but, for the most part, it was all about the floats. Plus, Jamie came home with his baseball cap full of candy & popsicles! For a town with a population of only 945, they sure go all out!!
Bill stayed home to man the yard sale while Jamie & I drove down for the morning parade. The parade route was the entire stretch of Main Street through town...probably a couple of miles and there had to be thousands of people lined up along the street. The parade was fun! They put a LOT of work into building floats...something that is unheard of for an Alamosa parade. Seriously, a parade in Alamosa consists of: a few horses, local cub scout troops walking by, firetrucks and cars with all sorts of political advertising. Not even a marching band! The Manassa parade did not have a marching band either and they had a few political advertisements thrown in but, for the most part, it was all about the floats. Plus, Jamie came home with his baseball cap full of candy & popsicles! For a town with a population of only 945, they sure go all out!!
We drove back to Manassa last night to experience the Demolition Derby. Jamie was so excited for this, he could hardly stand it. We stopped first in town for the much raved about "Mormon Burgers", which were OK but fell short of our expectations due to all of the hype. They weren't too overly priced, though, so that was a good thing. We drove out to the fairgrounds and finally found a place to park...parking was being directed by Blue Peaks clients, so that was an interesting adventure! Nothing against Blue Peaks, they are a wonderful organization that provides jobs & services for the developmentally disabled, but probably not the best choice to direct traffic.
The Demolition Derby was entertaining. Jamie loved it as he likes to crash & destroy his toys (must be a boy thing). There were four rounds and then the championship round, consisting of the winners of previous rounds (and also any other car that could still be driven). The crowd was interesting...no, they were actually rude & crude and, because of that, I will probably never go back. There were a bazillion out of control kids! During intermissions, when they had to tow the out of commission vehicles off of the field, people came around and threw candy & popsicles into the stands. At one point, a kid came up and stood right where we were sitting. I asked him nicely to move down a step because WE WERE OBVIOUSLY SITTING THERE and he ignored me. When he started pushing Jamie out of the way to catch candy that Jamie could've caught, I pulled him by his sweatshirt hood and moved him out of the way. Before the night was over, I was drenched when a kid behind me threw his opened, and very full, water bottle down. I jumped up and looked to see what had hit me and, of course, gave a nasty glare to the "adults" in charge of this minion. I thought I might get an apology but, nope...one of the "adults" said something about how that was the way they roll and if anybody didn't like it, they could get their asses out of here. I'm sure my back has bruises on it from the many kicks I endured while this same kid walked back and forth all night. I was SO proud of Jamie, as he sat in his seat all night and even moved out of the way when the one kid started pushing him to get into position to catch candy. I think my expectations must have been too high. When we've gone to Pioneer Day events in Salt Lake City, they are fun and the people are so respectful & nice. This is actually true for any event or venue we've visited in Salt Lake City. I guess I was expecting this, as an LDS event, to be comparable but, nope, it was truly a sad reflection of the LDS. One GOOD thing, however, is that they didn't serve alcohol...I can't imagine what the crowd would've been like if alcohol had been a factor. YIKES!!! If Jamie wants to go to the Demolition Derby in the future, it will be Bill's job to take him.
The Demolition Derby was entertaining. Jamie loved it as he likes to crash & destroy his toys (must be a boy thing). There were four rounds and then the championship round, consisting of the winners of previous rounds (and also any other car that could still be driven). The crowd was interesting...no, they were actually rude & crude and, because of that, I will probably never go back. There were a bazillion out of control kids! During intermissions, when they had to tow the out of commission vehicles off of the field, people came around and threw candy & popsicles into the stands. At one point, a kid came up and stood right where we were sitting. I asked him nicely to move down a step because WE WERE OBVIOUSLY SITTING THERE and he ignored me. When he started pushing Jamie out of the way to catch candy that Jamie could've caught, I pulled him by his sweatshirt hood and moved him out of the way. Before the night was over, I was drenched when a kid behind me threw his opened, and very full, water bottle down. I jumped up and looked to see what had hit me and, of course, gave a nasty glare to the "adults" in charge of this minion. I thought I might get an apology but, nope...one of the "adults" said something about how that was the way they roll and if anybody didn't like it, they could get their asses out of here. I'm sure my back has bruises on it from the many kicks I endured while this same kid walked back and forth all night. I was SO proud of Jamie, as he sat in his seat all night and even moved out of the way when the one kid started pushing him to get into position to catch candy. I think my expectations must have been too high. When we've gone to Pioneer Day events in Salt Lake City, they are fun and the people are so respectful & nice. This is actually true for any event or venue we've visited in Salt Lake City. I guess I was expecting this, as an LDS event, to be comparable but, nope, it was truly a sad reflection of the LDS. One GOOD thing, however, is that they didn't serve alcohol...I can't imagine what the crowd would've been like if alcohol had been a factor. YIKES!!! If Jamie wants to go to the Demolition Derby in the future, it will be Bill's job to take him.
the winner!
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